RockTenn merges with MeadWestvaco
Norcross-Ga.-based RockTenn, which had a facility in Highland, completed a merger with MeadWestvaco on July 1 to become WestRock, the second-largest packaging company in the world.
The combined company will have more than $15 billion in annual revenue and 42,000 employees, including 20 in Highland.
WestRock is not commenting on how the merger will impact the Highland facility, located on Zschokke Street and 5th and 6th streets.
“As the merger has just been finalized and our integration efforts are just underway, we don’t have much more information than we released last week,” WestRock corporate communications manager Sarah Hogeboom said. “We will have more details to share on all of these elements of our strategy in the coming weeks and months.”
WestRock will support customers from approximately 275 operating and business locations around the world, including the most comprehensive substrate offering in the industry and a wide variety of packaging solutions for diverse end markets from food and beverage to personal care and healthcare.
RockTenn was formed in a merger between Rock City Packaging and Tennessee Paper in 1973.
MeadWestvaco was formed in a merger between Mead Corp. and Westvaco in 2002.
On Jan 26, Rock-Tenn and MeadWestvaco entered into a definitive merger agreement.
WestRock CEO Steve Voorhees is excited about the opportunity.
“We have to win together with our customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees, and our communities — all of whom stand to benefit from our expertise in developing and delivering paper and packaging solutions around the world and our determination to exceed customer expectations,” Vorhees said in a statement.
In 2011, RockTenn bought Highland-based Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
RockTenn’s latest transaction comes after an activist shareholder campaign at MeadWestvaco by the hedge fund Starboard Value, which pushed the company to spin off its chemicals business with the aim of pushing up shareholder returns. MeadWestvaco recently announced that it would break off that chemicals division.
In the 2015 Fortune 500, Rock-Tenn ranked 293rd, and MeadWestvaco ranked 464th. The combined company would have been 198th on the list.
This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 3:35 AM with the headline "RockTenn merges with MeadWestvaco."